Armchair Cyclist
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Pidcock is the first non Dutch/Flemish medallist since Stybar in 2014, and this is the first time there have been three nationalities on the podium since 2008.
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I can believe it. A good day, a known talent, others (except Mathieu) not having their best day (Aerts, Iserbyt) or recovering (van Aert) and a result is possible. I did think he was going to blow up, but ok. It's definitely remarkable, but i'm not going to scream bloody murder (=clinic).Ok but all kidding aside and I know very well that Pidcock is a talent ; I checked his results from this season, in a worldcup race the closest he came
was 5th place, 30 seconds from Aerts. And now I'm supposed to believe that in the 2nd half of the World Championship race he suddenly kicks into gear,
drives twice as fast as all the Belgians, KEEPS that pace until the end, has the same lap times as Van der Poel and finishes second, this time 30 seconds before Aerts ??
Seriously how no one finds this a bit too incredible is beyond me, all of this weighing only 50 kg in a race made for powerful racers like van Aert, Aerts & Van der Poel ?
But with Pidcock being 20 years old and 2nd.. idk. Even when Vd Poel goes less CX or eventually retires, they could still be looking at Pidcocks rear, well, if he stays in CX that is.
You should watch the (final part of the) race again. Van Aert closes 7 seconds on Pidcock up to the point he catches Aerts in a few hundreds of meters and he came from further back half a lap before. He was definitely not spent. At that moment Aerts was riding 11 seconds behind Pidcock with 2 laps to go. Catching Pidcock was definitely not out of the question for van Aert. Obviously not a done deal either, but certainly not over.Even though I wasn't going to write him off, a 100% WvA would've beaten Pidcock and challenged even VdP but mechanical aside, he looked gassed with 2 laps to go, as did Aerts, as did Sweeck, as did Vanternout, so I don't think WvA would've beaten Tom today. I believe Pidcock timed his form to perfection as he did last year, pummelling Iserbyt In the U23's.
Ok but all kidding aside and I know very well that Pidcock is a talent ; I checked his results from this season, in a worldcup race the closest he came was 5th place, 30 seconds from Aerts.
Will be really interesting to follow Pidcock….
Van Aert had a much more impressive start than Pidcock in my opinion. He was gridded third row but managed to navigate his way to the front by the end of the straight, but got caught up on the inside of the first bend as riders on the right cut across.Pidcock got a good start and was at around #8 during first half of lap 1. At the end of lap 1 he is 18 seconds behind Aerts and on the excellent wheel of WvA. Probably ideal pacing for him to get back up to Iserbyt and Toon Aerts. Then when the chase starts after Pidcocks attack Aerts, MVA and Wout are looking at each other instead of cooperating and Iserbyt just gets into red. Sometimes things work in your favor. Congratulations to Pidcock!
ps. crazy how quick MVDP runs up all cambers, even on the last laps. Doesn't seem to tire at all.
If you watched the docu-soap "DNA Nys" you would know the answer to the first question (i assume you can't watch Belgian tv). Thibau kicks Sven's ass handily. On training he's often better in hard technical excercizes than the pros in the team. Last week he was the only one able to take a steep climb in the sand after a 90° turn in a descent. All the other Telenet riders had to get off the bike.2 unrelated, random questions:
Which Nys wins in a race right now, Thibau or Sven?
Will Michael Vanthourenhout or Laurens Sweeck ever win a World Cup race?
If you watched the docu-soap "DNA Nys" you would know the answer to the first question (i assume you can't watch Belgian tv). Thibau kicks Sven's ass handily. On training he's often better in hard technical excercizes than the pros in the team. Last week he was the only one able to take a steep climb in the sand after a 90° turn in a descent. All the other Telenet riders had to get off the bike.
If you watched the docu-soap "DNA Nys" you would know the answer to the first question (i assume you can't watch Belgian tv). Thibau kicks Sven's ass handily. On training he's often better in hard technical excercizes than the pros in the team. Last week he was the only one able to take a steep climb in the sand after a 90° turn in a descent. All the other Telenet riders had to get off the bike.
Haven't checked recently, but in 2013, only 2 pros had faster lap times than van Aert in the u23 s. Nys and Stybar. But Thibau is only junior now.The juniors I train with can often ride really difficult sections due to their lower weight, particularly uphill sand sections.
Still, TNys looks already like something extra. It would be fun to know just how fast he is compared to the U23 and Elite men. Last year at Bogense I remember that they talked about how close the U23 (Pidcock/Iserbyt) lap times were to the Elite. Major difference was the consistency and number of intense efforts that Elite men could produce. Since conditions didn’t change all too much between the days Junior men times could possibly be compared...
Haven't checked recently, but in 2013, only 2 pros had faster lap times than van Aert in the u23 s. Nys and Stybar. But Thibau is only junior now.
Makes sense. Also because often the pros would ride more tactically especially in races where they can't drop each other, and lower the tempo. Whereas un youth ranks, it's often full gas all the time.interview with david vd poel a while back was that Mathieu was already lapping faster than all pro's sometimes in u23 races...
I think the thing with riders like Pidcock and Iserbyt is the superprestige u23 had been combined with the elite last year so they had a season or two to ride and take blows out of each other on their own, and then they were thrown into battles with the worlds best and had to up their game. From this it's also easy to see why the lap times weren't far off. Plus with the U23 worlds, the race being around 50min they ride for less time so can go harder for longer as they don't have to save a bit more for that extra 10-15min or and elite WC.The juniors I train with can often ride really difficult sections due to their lower weight, particularly uphill sand sections.
Still, TNys looks already like something extra. It would be fun to know just how fast he is compared to the U23 and Elite men. Last year at Bogense I remember that they talked about how close the U23 (Pidcock/Iserbyt) lap times were to the Elite. Major difference was the consistency and number of intense efforts that Elite men could produce. Since conditions didn’t change all too much between the days Junior men times could possibly be compared...